Fall Weddings Reception Tables

Searching for seasonal tabletop inspiration? Whether you're looking to capture a classic, formal, or modern style, here are some of our favorite ideas for fall table decor.

Classic Fall Table

Fall Weddings Reception Tables

Color Scheme: Brown, orange, yellow, and red
Table Settings: Start with brown linens, burnt orange napkins, and brown thatch chargers, and try twig-like flatware with ivory plates. In terms of glassware, think orange-tinted wine glasses and salad plates.

Centerpieces: Tall centerpieces made of willow branches and plenty of fall flowers -- like fresh dahlias, sunflowers, and calla lilies -- in shades of red, burnt orange, and yellow. Add romance to the ambience and illuminate each table with candles in small clay votives.
Sweet Extra: Add a sugar cookie in the shape of a leaf to each place setting.

Color Scheme: Eggplant and gold
Table Settings:Get dark purple damask linens and napkins and some pretty gold chargers. For your plates, use gold-rimmed china and simple flatware. Dark purple-hued glassware will add an elegant touch, and gold or brass napkin rings will tie it all together.

Centerpieces: For a formal fall centerpiece, try arrangements of dark roses and calla lilies. Alternate low, lush centerpieces with tall, candlelit floral centerpieces to give dimension to the room and create an elegant atmosphere.

Fall Weddings Reception Tables

Sweet Extra: Place a box of maple leaf and acorn-shaped chocolates at each place setting, packaged in gold boxes tied off with eggplant-hued ribbon.

Modern Fall Table

Color Scheme: Brown and yellow
Table Settings: Go for brown table linens, brown napkins, and bold yellow chargers. Opt for simple, minimalist designed flatware; get yellow glassware and yellow-tinted glass plates for the first course.

Fall Weddings Reception Tables

Centerpieces: The centerpieces should be all about shape. Consider yellow calla lilies in cool modern vases, with a few small votive candles to add warmth to each table.

Sweet Extra: A modern fall wedding reception calls for big-idea favors. Give a donation to your favorite charity, create cards in a brown and bold yellow color palette explaining the donation, and put one at each table or place setting.

Fall Weddings Reception Tables

Fall Wedding Cakes

Here are 5 ways to make your confection match the season.

Fall Flavors

Fall Wedding Cakes

Make the most of the season by picking cakes with distinct fall flavors. Instead of traditional white cake, consider a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting or a spice cake with blackberry filling and cream cheese frosting. For a lighter cake that will still remind guests of fall, go for an almond lemon cake with lemon frosting and filling.

Seasonal Colors

Color counts when you're designing a fall-inspired cake, and you can't go wrong with a color palette of burnt orange, brown, yellow, and red. That said, it's easy to go overboard with autumn hues -- add just a hint of fall color with a simple chocolate ganache or an ivory buttercream cake trimmed with orange or yellow. Or let the fall colors pop with an ivory cake covered in burnt orange, brown, yellow, and red sugar maple leaves.

Autumn Blooms

Match your cake to your bouquet by asking your baker to create sugar versions of your flowers. For a modern wedding, ask your baker to create a few large graphic sugar dahlias for your cake tiers. If you're going for a more classic style, find out whether your baker can "paint" small sunflowers on your cake using an edible dye.

Shapes and Add-ons

Decorating with maple leaves, acorns, and other fall-inspired elements made out of chocolate, sugar, or gum paste is one way to create a clearly seasonal cake. But you don't have to go over-the-top with these add-ons to get an autumnal look. Instead of brightly colored fall leaf shapes, consider a chocolate cake with molded-chocolate acorns or leaves. The tone-on-tone look will have the same effect with a more discrete style.

Choose Sides

Whether you've already picked a cake design, or you've decided to take your cake in a not-so-seasonal direction, consider adding a side to serve with your cake to mimic the season. Serve cake à la mode with pumpkin ice cream; add a handful of caramel candies to each plate; or serve each slice with warm poached pears.

Fall Wedding Cakes

Fall Celebrity Wedding Style

Get wedding style pointers from these stars who got married in the autumn.

Kevin Costner & Christine Baumgartner

Fall Celebrity Wedding Style

The scene: A rustic, down-home affair at Costner's ranch in Aspen, Colorado

A wedding weekend: The couple's 300 guests spent four days on Kevin's 165-acre Aspen ranch, enjoying barbecues, canoeing, and horseback riding.
Make it yours: Give your guests a taste of your hometown by filling the weekend with local activities. Create itineraries that include wine-tastings or walking tours, and host a barbecue to get everyone mixing and mingling before the wedding day.

The attire: The bride wore a ruched ecru satin ball gown by Monique Lhuillier, adorned with satin roses to complement her crimson rose bouquet. The groom looked sharp in a dark gray cashmere suit with a gray and white polka-dot tie; a crimson rose boutonniere matched Christine's bouquet.
Make it yours: The key to mixing a big ball gown with a more casual setting: the right fabric and details. Instead of glitzy crystal embellishments or beading, get the fairy-tale look with soft satin ruching and fabric flowers to match your bouquet. For him, experiment with fabrics and color -- go for gray like Kevin, or a chocolate brown.

The catering: The elegant menu included caviar with salmon, pear and goat cheese salad, venison, Colorado bass, beef filets garnished with onions and baby carrots, sea bass, and a quadruple-layered white chocolate wedding cake.
Make it yours: An at-home wedding doesn't mean you can't have an upscale menu -- look to your surroundings for catering ideas. If you live near the water, fresh fish is a must; get tender beef filets for a Midwest affair; and go for spicy enchiladas with chocolate mole sauce for a wedding in the Southwest.

Billy Joel & Katie Lee

Fall Celebrity Wedding Style

The scene: Italian-style feast on Long Island, New York

The site: The reception was held at the singer's 15-acre estate beneath a white tent in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The reception was inspired by an Italian harvest feast, with 23 wooden farm tables adorned with miniature calla lilies, sunflowers, and herbs.
Make it yours: If you don't happen to have a 15-acre oceanfront estate, look into renting a mansion for your wedding day. Set up a tent on the lawn and use the mansion as a dramatic backdrop, or serve dinner in the home and let the party continue outside under a tented dance floor.

Fall Celebrity Wedding Style

The catering: Billy and Katie's guests dined on Italian-style dishes, including sausage with grapes and onions, and a buffet of fish, meat, vegetables, cheese, and salami. A chocolate-covered wedding cake topped it all off.
Make it yours: If you're looking to Italy to inspire your wedding style, top-notch cuisine is a must -- go all out with a five-course Italian meal. For dessert, let guests help themselves to a buffet of rich cannoli, cookies, and other traditional sweets. And finally, order a cake that mimics the over-the-top delight of your reception feast -- try lots of tiers and elegant add-ons.

The attire: Katie donned a sleeveless, Chantilly lace gown with a scalloped hemline by Oscar de la Renta. After dinner, she changed into a black Dolce & Gabbana dress with aquamarine jewels.
Make it yours: Like Katie, mix traditional with trendy. For the ceremony, look for a gown with something old and something new -- lace and a scalloped hemline, or an A-line with a few graphic embellishments. Then change into a more casual (but still fashionable) dress for the first dance, like a black dress with bold jewels or a bold-hued dress and your favorite heels.

Travis Barker & Shanna Moakler

The scene: Bacara Resort & Spa, Santa Barbara, California

The style: This unconventional couple hired a wedding coordinator to help dream up a wedding inspired by their favorite flick: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. A red and black color palette helped bring the movie to life.
Make it yours: Look for inspiration in a movie or a theme that holds meaning to both of you. If you adore Audrey Hepburn movies, create a classic, vintage style for your reception using a black and white palette accented with your favorite bold color. If there's a particular holiday that you love to celebrate together, work it into your wedding theme. For a stylish Halloween-themed wedding, give out candy as favors and have your tables adorned with white and orange pumpkins.

The gown: Shanna walked down the aisle in a traditional long-sleeved lace gown with a ballroom skirt, accented with a large black sash and a black net hat, which she wore tilted to the side. For a dash of color, the former Miss USA carried a small bouquet of crimson roses.

Make it yours: Don't be afraid of a little color when it comes to your gown. Wear bright orange heels; have your veil hemmed in blue; or wear a brown sash around your waist.

The attendants: Six flower girls wore white sleeveless frocks with a black sash at the waist, and the hem was trimmed in the same dark hue. For color, the girls wore wreaths composed of yellow and red blooms.
Make it yours: Your younger wedding party members can fit into your theme in playful ways too. If you're sticking to a darker color palette, accessorize the flower girl with a deep-colored sash; for a Halloween theme, consider using a plastic pumpkin filled with flower petals for the flower girl's walk down the aisle.

Fall Wedding Favor Ideas

Send guests home on a high note with these fall-inspired favor ideas.

Caramel Apples

Fall Wedding Favor Ideas

Treat guests to the quintessential fall indulgence -- caramel apples. Have them packaged individually and tied off with a ribbon that matches your colors so guests can grab the treat as they exit without getting caramel on their nice clothes.

Soy Candles

Capture the coziness of autumn with soy candles in shades of burnt orange, yellow, or brown. They can double as place cards, or pack them into pretty boxes that match your color palette.

Autumnal-Shaped Chocolates


Chocolate is always a favorite favor (who doesn't love a sweet after a night of dancing?), so consider chocolates in the shapes of maple leaves and acorns. Display them in individual boxes at each place setting or on trays near the dessert table.

Few things represent the fall season better than maple syrup. Give mini maple syrup bottles to your guests as a sweet thank-you, or include them in farewell bags at the postwedding brunch for all to enjoy with their breakfast.

Apple Cider Mix

Fall Wedding Favor Ideas

Packets of apple cider mix are perfect for welcome baskets and reception favors alike. Buy them prepackaged with cute sayings such as "Falling in Love," or make them yourself -- and don't forget the cinnamon stirring sticks.

They're practical and pretty, and your guests will love the fall scent. Get pumpkin-shaped soaps and leave them at each place setting.

Individual Apple Tarts

You don't want to upstage the cake, but fresh apple tarts are a tasty way to wow your guests.

Sunflower Seeds

Both for eating and for planting, packets of sunflower seeds are ideal for a rustic fall wedding. Display the packets on a table alongside fresh sunflowers in vases, or simply place little pouches filled with seeds at each setting.

Fresh Candied Pecans


Warm pecans coated in brown sugar will leave your guests feeling snug and satisfied. Have your caterer arrange for a pecan cart to give out the snacks toward the end of the evening.

Apple Butter

Fall Wedding Favor Ideas

Whether you buy it or make it yourself, apple butter is a unique fall favor that not only looks the part, but tastes great too. Package the sweet spread into mini jars; cover each jar lid with fabric to match your wedding day colors; and tie them off with a thin piece of raffia and a small thank-you note.

wedding theme

Plan a Wedding with a Dramatic Theme:

Garden Party. An elegant garden party can be the perfect setting for an intimate wedding. Use a bird’s nest for the “ring pillow” and make individual bird’s nests that have jelly beans in the center for place cards, favors, and decorations. Wear a wedding gown made of light lace or organza to fit the theme. Use fruit as an addition to flower centerpieces and have the flower girl pull a wagon filled with rose petals down the aisle.

wedding theme

“Green” Wedding. Eco-conscious couples might consider planning an environmentally friendly wedding. Use herbs to decorate the location. This is cost effective and will make the reception smell earthy. Small potted herbs can be used for decorations, name cards, and favors. If interested, check out two articles written for this wedding theme: Eco-Friendly Engagement Rings and Wear an Eco-Chic Wedding Dress.

House Party. Ever think about hosting a wedding at home? If there is enough room at home or in the backyard, this can become an intimate, beautiful wedding theme. Serve lemonade and sweet tea for refreshments. Have a down home buffet table with homemade pies, macaroni and cheese, hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad and locally grown vegetables and fruits. When it starts to get dark, start a fire and make s’mores.

Rustic Reception. Use the colors of autumn such as deep reds, oranges, and browns to make this theme come alive. Wheat stalks, wood napkin rings, pumpkins, gourds and leaves, would be great decorations for this theme. Think about using hot apple cider, candy apples, mini pumpkin or pecan pies, shot glasses of butternut squash and tomato soup in your food choices to tie the theme together. Sending guests off with a bag of caramel popcorn is a creative way to end the night.

Valentine’s Day Wedding. What holiday is more romantic than Valentine’s Day? A classic wedding dress and tuxedo is the perfect attire for this theme. Carry a bouquet of deep red roses and get married with soft lighting provided by candles. Give guests boxes of candy hearts as their wedding favors and serve chocolate covered strawberries instead of having a wedding cake.

Classic Wedding. Want a stunning, elegant wedding ceremony and reception? Have an all white, classic wedding. Use white table linens, place settings, and white flower centerpieces with hanging pearls or crystals. Use white feathers in the bouquet and centerpieces to make them stand out. Serve White Russians during the cocktail hour.

Christmas Wedding. The holidays are a romantic time of year. Make the winter holidays more special by planning a Christmas themed wedding. There are a few color combinations that would be a great fit for this theme: silver and white, silver and light blue, white and gold, or burgundy, dark green, and gold. For décor, use candles, fake snow, and/or evergreen trees with sparkling ornaments. Serve hot apple cider, hot cocoa, and eggnog to put guests in the Christmas spirit. Christmas ornaments are unique favors that guests will use year after year. Read more about planning a Christmas wedding on a budget with this article.

wedding theme

wedding telegrams

Telegrams used to be common modes of correspondence for various special occasions. Samuel F. B. Morse sent the first telegraphy message in 1844 from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore. Later, he developed the concept of a network of stations that could send and receive messages through the telegraph system.

wedding telegrams

The development of the telegram offered a viable approach to sending information very quickly, making the mode of communication ideal for wedding correspondences. People readily embraced this mode of communication to offer messages of congratulations and to announce the special occasions.

wedding telegrams

There are several ways to incorporate telegrams into wedding events and the benefits are quite considerable. Those who choose to incorporate this old-fashioned correspondence into their plans have unique opportunities. Benefits of telegram messages for weddings include:

* Memorable
* Unique
* Personal
* May be read aloud
* Keepsakes
* Return RSVP service available

Telegrams truly make the occasion stand out. This old-fashioned form of communication offers a traditional feel and a sense of nostalgia that is fitting for many wedding themes.

wedding telegrams